Just a qucik update on the blog before i go on holiday and internet access gets difficult for a couple of weeks. After a wave of procrastination, resulting from accululated tiredness and a sort of ‘re-entry shock’ i experience when visiting my home country after living abroad, i put my head down and send a couple of research related emails. One was at a potential interviewee participant in Greece, who was recommended by a friend. The other was to Prof. M.M.L in relation to my PhD progress and discussing about co-authoring a paper maybe. I have to be patient during August given that most of us are on holiday, and i need it as well…but i have a couple of interviews lined up for end of August, early September. I need to get myself organised with the data. It’s good to get into the analysis soon after each interview and do the transcripts. Otherwise there is the danged that i will feel drown under too much stuff and lose hindsight about how to handle it….am off for a swim now!

The process of travelling back and forth between host (UK) culture and my original (GR) one is full of conflicting emotions, mixed feelings, a state of limbo. I can see more and more that there must be some links between individual attachment styles/patterns as formed in early childhood and the extend of psychological resilience of cultural adjustment and sense of belonging, or even in relation to change in general., This is a personal observation that was also implied in a couple of research interviews and i need to explore more through a literature search…I will leave it there for now, try to get used to the temperature changes etc and will come back again, after some proper sleep and once i have properly landed

i havent used the blog for a few days as the server was being updated etc. At the moment i am dealing with some paperwork on my professional side. it is summer and any work with research participants is a bit more difficult due to holidays period etc. i guess i need to retreat myself a bit and find a different pace after the last couple of months that were too intensive. will arrange tutorial with William before my hols to touch ground and plan ahead…need sunshine

Soon after the review panel and the conference presentations i found myself very tired, it was the usual ‘falling ill’ process for a couple of days due to the fact that i was at an intense mode for quite a while. Hence, i havent written any post in this blog for a week or so as i have been catching up with myself on other areas. At the moment i am withdrawing a bit from reading and writing as i feel a resistance in producing text. However, there are a few ideas about co-authoring papers for publication, one with William and one with Steph. All will fall into place when i get some rest, am sure

My birthday today….I want to view it as a new beginning…a new phase in my life and the research process. We had a long PhD group supervision meeting today, Tracey brought in a cake and a candle (how sweet of her!). I also had some Lacta greek chocolate that i brought from Greece and kept for this day as i know that William, our supervisor, just loves it . There was a lot of discussion in the group around Heuristic methodology, power dynamics, politics etc and how those inform our thinking and research writings. I feel i have to look at both the unconscious (whenever visible) and conscious processes that the topic brings up for me. I may write a critique on Moustakas’s Heuristics…i am questioning a lot the impact that the research brings to the researcher and how to manage that, some new balances and safety nets needs introducing, i think